N.J. seniors struggle to stay cool as hazardous heat wave continues

NEWARK — Bob Dickens laid on the bed in his fifth floor studio apartment. The windows were open, the Newark air was hot. Sleep finally came at 5 a.m. A rough night for Dickens. A rough night for anyone without air conditioning.

When he awoke at 9 a.m. Wednesday, the 69-year-old fled to the building’s cooler "rec room," where he spent most of the day and did a little scheming: How do I get an air conditioner?

"Tell Obama we all need air conditioning," he quipped, then thought more pragmatically: "Well, we only got a month to go."

Maybe so, but the next few days might feel like a month as New Jersey bakes under near 100-degree heat and relentless humidity.

"By the time this is over, we may have some locations that will go 10 straight days of 90 or above," said David Robinson, the state climatologist. "That’s pretty unusual."

Today through Saturday will be the toughest, with urban areas from Newark to Trenton to Camden pressing toward 100 or above. It may feel like 115 degrees in some locations, said Carl Erickson, an AccuWeather meteorologist.

It’s been hot enough already that some — especially those without air conditioning — have struggled to stay healthy.

In a heat wave, it’s seniors who are among the most vulnerable. Without air conditioning, they can struggle to keep their bodies cool and hydrated.

"The longer the heat wave goes, the higher the risk, because of the prolonged exposure. You can convince people to rest, stay in doors, take it easy for a day or two," but that doesn’t last, said Robert Eisenstein, the chief of emergency medicine at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. "As the duration of the heat wave continues, people are likely to get back to activities."

For anyone without air conditioning, it can be hard to do that. Over repeated nights without relief, the body temperature can rise. Most people will be fine, with their bodies compensating — but seniors have to be careful.

Swollen joints can quickly turn into muscle spasms and eventually heat exhaustion, characterized by dizziness, rapid heart rate, nausea and headaches. In the most severe cases, heat stroke can occur. With that, there’s neurological involvement and the possibility of death.

To keep New Jersey’s most vulnerable from facing those symptoms, municipalities, community groups and churches across the state are opening cooling centers — in libraries, houses of worship and in the lobbies of government buildings. Of course, the local pool is always beckoning.

Most of the state has been experiencing heat-wave temperatures for a few days now, but things are just now turning for the worst, weather experts say. A high-pressure system that spanned the midwest, keeping moisture in and the sun blaring down, is now expanding eastward. By this afternoon, parts of the Garden State — especially urban areas — will have temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s.

It will be worse Friday.

"Tell you the truth, looking for the rest of next week, I don’t see any real relief," said Erickson of AccuWeather. "It’s going to stay pretty muggy."

That’s unwelcome news to residents of the Audubon Center apartments in Newark, where the air has been out since last summer. While management works to fix the situation, two tenants take refuge in their air-conditioned vehicles.

"That means I have to spend more money on gas," said Judith Mack, 68, who has lived in the building for 27 years.

When she’s not in her car, Mack tries to keep cool with an ice pack and her fan.

"I’m not a water drinker," she said. "I’ve never drank so much water in my life."

But Catherine Thomas, another Newarker, knows that tonic can’t cure a sleepless night.

"When you go to sleep the way you were born into this world and you are still hot," she said, "you know it’s hot."